As a founding member and rhythmic backbone for not one but two of the biggest and most critically adored post-punk bands to ever haunt the stage, David J has more than earned his place in music history. Not only is his forceful, no-nonsense bass playing immediately identifiable but it’s nearly impossible to imagine what either Bauhaus or Love & Rockets would sound like without it. Thankfully, we don’t have to, and even more fortunately, we actually do know what David J sounds like outside of the context of those two massive bands, as he has released numerous solo albums starting in the ‘80s and continuing all the way through to just last year.
Now, David J has partnered with indie giant Cleopatra Records to reissue some of the best of those solo efforts. First up is Not Long For This World. Originally released in 2011, the album finds David J in full dark cabaret mode, staring down death with a set of elegies and eulogies for the dearly departed, from Hank Williams to Spalding Gray to Jeff Buckley and more. David J describes it as “a meditation on the subject of mortality… brimming with poignancy, lachrymose yet laced with gallows humour galore.” The album is being reissued this month on both a gorgeous 6-panel digipak for CD and stunning red marble vinyl.
Following that is the 2014 jewel An Eclipse Of Ships. From the sensuous artwork to the lyrical themes of love and lust, this is David J’s most adult album, a “polyamorous ‘little black book’ in song, essentially a journal of the heart and a paean to Woman as muse. The album is a showcase for lustrous jewels retrieved by a gentleman thief from the boudoirs of beautiful women.” It also features a multitude of musicians and instruments, from saxophone to mandolin to oboe to pedal steel guitar, that expands the sonic palette beyond the traditional rock format. This one is also reissued in a deluxe digipak with limited-edition silver vinyl.
And there’s lots more to come including the 1985 classic Crocodile Tears And The Velvet Cosh, the 1986 highlights collection On Glass, 2003’s Estranged and the highly sought after rarity Embrace Your Dysfunction credited to David J’s Cabaret Oscuro!
Order the CD/vinyl of Not Long For This World: HERE
Stream/download: HERE
Order the CD/vinyl of An Eclipse Of Ships: HERE
Stream/download: HERE
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